Half Past Insane
by SasukeUchihaMustDie
Summary: When the Godaime summons her student, Sakura Haruno, from her work with a patient the kunoichi knows something must be up. What she didn’t expect though was for the Sannin to lead her through the winding halls of the mental ward… DeiXSaku
1. A Strange Request

**Chapter One: A Strange Request**

Sakura Haruno followed her teammate, Naruto Uzumaki, through the swampy terrain of Sawa no Kuni, dodging the clay birds' explosions that followed them. Not far behind them was one of the members of the criminal organization known as Akatsuki, perched on an enormous clay model of an owl that was not far behind them, a monster known as 'Deidara'.

How had they managed to get into this mess? Their original mission was just to escort an old merchant to the safety of the Swamp Village. They had accomplished that and began heading out on their journey home to Konoha when the two of them had spotted something out of the ordinary, a giant bird in the sky.

The Jinchuuriki had immediately recognized the bird as it was similar to the one that had pursued him and his sensei, Kakashi Hatake, a few years previous. That meant, obviously, that the one who was atop the bird riding it had to be the man who was chosen to capture the Shukaku, the same man who had participated in the murder of his dear friend Gaara. Sure, Gaara had been resurrected but that was beside the point.

They continued to watch from the ground as the bird circled overhead, he was either taking a pleasure ride or searching for something. He couldn't possibly know that they were in the area though, they had just participated in a rather insignificant mission, no one would know enough to tip him or the rest of his organization off. No, Sakura deemed it as just a coincidence, he must have been searching for something else. She turned to tell her friend and comrade that it was okay for them to start moving again, once they got under the cover of the trees they'd be okay. Shame he had already taken matters into his own hands. "Hey! Asshole, get down here!"

Now the two of them were desperately trying to lose the explosives master but it wasn't looking good for either one of them. At this rate they were both going to die, he was just too fast for them to evade and their stamina and chakra levels would only hold out for so long.

She would have to deal with her partner later, she had already made a mental note to pound his head into the ground of the crowded streets of their village. But that would have to wait, now it was time for her to make a rash decision that might cost her her life, "Naruto, you go on ahead, I'll catch up later."

Both of them came to a halt, the shinobi clad in orange looked over at his friend, confused. "Sakura-chan, you know I can't leave you with him like this."

"Go, now." Her gut told her that she was going to regret her decision but it was for the best, she had to save her friend, she would protect him with her life. "I'll catch up soon, I promise."

He opened his mouth to protest but he received quite a glare from her and darted off, leaving Sakura alone to face the Akatsuki explosives expert.

Now she was alone, and he was already in view. She had been lucky thus far, he wasn't as able in maneuvering through the forest as she had been, the bird was just too big. But now she braced herself and prepared for the worst as he swooped by her and landed on a thick limb.

"So you split up. Good, yeah." The man known as 'Deidara' hopped off the back of his clay bird and sat down on the branch, swinging his legs back and forth, amused at her. "I was hoping you would."

Sakura's breath hitched once she had gotten a good luck at him, he was perhaps the most handsome man she had ever seen—even more so than Sasuke. His blonde hair was long, half of it was pulled into a ponytail over his head that resembled a floating cloud and a large strand of it covered most of the left side of his face. His one visible eye was almond-shaped with a black lining around it. The iris was a vivid blue color, a tad darker than the sky above them that wasn't visible at the moment due to the canopy of the trees. "And why's that, so you can kill us separately?"

"No no, I have no intention of killing anyone, well at least not you, yeah," He his lips curled into a half smile. "In fact, I hadn't planned on killing anyone today."

She frowned, just what did he mean by that? If he wasn't going to kill her then why did he bother stopping? She severely doubted he just wanted to share a cup of tea. "So then what are you doing here?"

"Hmm? Oh, well I came here to see you, Sakura Haruno, yeah." Her heart stopped for a moment, was she going to be captured or something? "I don't understand."

"Well I wouldn't expect you to, yeah. I suppose I should tell you that I organized that little mission you just finished." So that meant he had planned on meeting her, but it still didn't make any sense. She stopped questioning herself though, it was pointless, she might as well question him instead. "I don't understand, why me?"

He laughed softly to himself, closing his visible eye and then opening it again, giving her a look with it that caused her heart to stop again. It was becoming harder and harder for her to keep her concentration on what he was saying, she was too focused on taking in his appearance. "Simple, really, yeah. I've become rather…_interested_ in you lately, Sakura-_chan_.

Once again, she felt her heart stop. If she still had 'Inner Sakura' she was sure she'd be cheering her on inside her head, telling her to go ahead and flirt with this killer. "Interested? In me?"

"That's right; you've just…come to my attention lately. I've paid _special notice_ to you, yeah."

At this point she was totally confused as to what he was getting at. Wasn't he supposed to be chasing after Naruto? Not that she really wanted him to, of course, she was just curious as to why he was 'interested' in her instead of him. Her eyes narrowed, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing," He closed his eye again and shrugged. Opening it again, he gave her the same look she had just received from him moments ago. What was up with him? "Well, Sakura-chan, I suppose I should get going, yeah. I just wanted to stop and say 'hello'."

With those words she lunged towards him, breaking the limb that he was sitting on into smithereens. She fell to the ground below and watched him from above; he was back on the bird hovering above her, its powerful wings flapped in such a way that the dust and dirt on the ground was disturbed, coating her in it. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'm not going to go after your little Kyuubi friend. Like I said before, it's you who I wanted to see, yeah."

And with those words he took off through the canopy of the trees and into the blue, leaving Sakura very confused and rather bewildered.

* * *

A year to the day had passed since her incident with the Akatsuki member and the whole thing was once again fresh in her mind, she didn't have time to concentrate on reminiscing though.

The pink haired kunoichi walked quickly through the corridors of the Konoha medical hospital towards her shishou's office. Why Tsunade had called for her she wasn't sure of, she had been treating someone for a burst appendix when Shizune had come in to take over for her. It was very odd of her to do such a thing, Tsunade never called while she was treating a patient, unless of course for some reason she wasn't aware of it, but the chance of that ever happening was slim to none.

She turned the corner and approached the Godaime's office in the medical unit. Hesitating, she stepped inside and saw her mentor stand up behind her desk to greet her. "I apologize for interrupting you Sakura, but this cannot wait."

Sakura felt a knot in her stomach form, had someone been seriously hurt? "That's okay, Tsunade-shishou, may I ask why you called for me?"

"I think it's better just to show you," she stepped out from behind her desk and motioned for her to follow her out the door.

The Sannin led her through winding halls that she had never even been through before. She had known that the hospital was huge, but never had she imagined that such a wing ever existed. Unlike the area that she normally worked in, the walls that they were walking through were gradually getting more and more eerie. The lighting was dim, some of the bulbs were flickering on and off. From the cracks in the old cement walls leaked a foul smelling liquid, black in color. The whole thing wreaked with mildew and mold, it was definitely not a place where normal patients would be operated on. _'Just where are we going?'_

Whatever wing they were in must have been part of the original hospital. Sakura guessed its age to be much older than she. It was not kept up well and as they proceeded further along it was getting spookier and spookier.

The two of them approached a giant pair of steel doors, several large, rusted locks kept them bound together. Tsunade stopped in front of them and pulled out a ring of mismatched skeleton keys. Sakura felt a cold shiver go down her spine, something wasn't right. "Tsunade-shishou, where are you taking me?"

Tsunade turned to her, her expression a serious one, "Sakura, we are now entering the mental ward of the hospital."

She felt her body go numb, the mental ward? It didn't make any sense; she wasn't trained to handle the insane so why was her teacher taking her there? Maybe it was just to get hands on experience, show her how things were run for future reference.

Not questioning the Godaime, she followed her through the thick steel doors that Tsunade had just unlocked. As if the atmosphere wasn't creepy enough it was about to get a whole lot worse.

They were walking through a long, dimly lit hallway. The floor was coated in a slippery greenish-brown liquid; Sakura had no intention of finding out as to what it was. The stench was getting even worse as they proceeded on.

"Sakura, you need to focus on walking," Tsunade turned her head back to look at her. "Do not stare at the inmates."

Her apprentice wanted to question her words but decided to keep her mouth shut. She didn't know the situation so she continued on walking.

The two of them began to pass cells of where the patients were kept. Sakura couldn't help it, her eyes began to wander.

Some of the in-patients looked highly sedated; they just laid there on their beds and some on the floor. More than a few of them's quarters looked as though a tornado had hit. Their rooms, if that's what you could call them, were out in the open though, this was only the minimal security area.

As they turned the corner things began to look even worse, if that was possible.

Sakura's eyes widened as they passed an open area that looked like a medieval torture chamber. In the center of the room was a large operating table with thick leather restraints and in two of the corners were pairs of shackles used to chain the patients to the wall. There was a crib for a baby next to one of the counters; Sakura cringed at the thought that some child would spend their life in this horrifying place. On the counter itself laid instruments that Sakura had never even seen before in her medical days as well as large syringes already filled with liquid.

She couldn't bare looking at the sight anymore so she turned her head back to the hallway. Now they were reaching a unit of higher level security, the inmates were locked behind thick steel doors like the ones they had first passed through. They were out of sight but they were definitely there, as the two of them passed they could both hear moaning, some of them even let out a high pitched screech. It was as if they were communicating to each other.

Before them stood another pair of thick stainless-steel doors, covered with even more padlocks then the original ones they had gone through. Tsunade took out her ring of keys again, but as she reached out to unlock the locks she turned to Sakura, "This is the maximum security area, please brace yourself."

She didn't need to tell her twice, as they went through Sakura had to cover her ears, blood curdling screams echoed off the walls. At this point she was very shaken, was Tsunade just trying to torture her or something?

One door they walked passed must have had doctors inside as there was a lot of shouting going on. Another's sounded as though the patient inside was throwing itself against the door trying to break out. At that point Sakura stopped, she was already going to have nightmares from visiting the asylum, Tsunade's game was over, she wasn't going to put another step forward before she knew what exactly was going on. "I need to know where we're going."

"Sakura, one of our new patients here requests to be treated by you," Tsunade stopped walking and stood there for a moment, then turned to face her student. "I don't know how to tell you this, but he's our most dangerous admittance here."

Her heart stopped beating and for a moment she wasn't sure if it was going to start up again. Most dangerous? "I'm not equipped to take on a job like that, Tsunade-shishou! I don't even have the authority to work with the minimal security patients!"

"I realize that, I wouldn't have appointed you to this case if I wasn't sure that you could handle it."

"I still don't understand—I don't understand any of this!"

"Sakura, you need to calm down, if it makes you feel any better he isn't necessarily supposed to be in here."

As if she wasn't confused enough already, "What do you mean?!"

"He's supposed to be held in the Konoha prison unit on the outskirts of the village… However…"

"Yes?!" Sakura was already worked up enough, did Tsunade not notice that? It wasn't necessary for her to keep playing mind games with her. "What is going on here?!"

"Our prison isn't fit to handle someone this dangerous."

Those words hit her like a rock. The prison was equipped with so much security it was inescapable. "Just who am I supposed to deal with? Surely someone else can take my place."

"He requests only you, we cannot take the chance of sending someone else in there." Just what was that supposed to mean? Tsunade was okay with sacrificing her own apprentice to this monster but not someone else? She didn't mean to be selfish but it kinda pissed her off. "Do you mind telling me who I'm supposed to take care of?"

The Godaime didn't answer, she just started up walking again, turning a corner. Sakura braced herself, they were walking towards a dead end, she would soon find out who she would be dealing with.

Another steel door protected her and her teacher from the danger behind it. Locks lined the wall, all shapes and sizes. Tsunade pulled out her ring of keys for the final time and began unlocking them.

"Are you ready?"

Sakura didn't have time to answer that question, Tsunade grabbed the steel handle to the door and flung it open.

Her jade eyes widened when she saw who inhabited the room before her.

"It's about time, yeah."

**A/N: Poor Sakura, what a way to ruin her day.**

**I got this idea the other day while mowing my grandparents' lawn, strange yes? **

**This'll be my third story that I'm working on at the moment but believe it or not it'll be updated soon like the other two. I'm rather excited about the whole plot line, it's a little different…I guess. xD**

**I hope I didn't offend anyone with the whole description of the mental ward… I just had to make it spooky and old-fashioned. **

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. And So it Begins

**Chapter Two: And So it Begins**

There he was, sitting atop an old operation table on the balls of his feet. It was unmistakable, it was the same man who she had encountered exactly a year ago, the handsome man named 'Deidara'.

He looked rather amused, his watchful eye examining her, as if he was looking into her soul. His appearance was the same; he still had the same long blonde hair with the cloud over his head and the long strand covering his one eye. Yet this time he wasn't dressed in his Akatsuki robes, no this time his arms were bound in the white straight jacket he was wearing.

It was a few minutes before Sakura really took in what was happening, and what was in front of her. This was what Tsunade wanted to show her, this was the patient that she was assigned to taking care of. "Sakura, from this point on until further notice all of your time at the hospital will be devoted to monitoring him."

Sakura looked up at her mentor to see if she was joking, much to her dismay she wasn't. Just how was she supposed to take care of this man? Was she supposed to do it _alone_?

"You're scared, yeah. I can tell."

She turned her attention back to Deidara, "I'm not afraid of you."

"Oh, is that so, yeah?" He cocked his head, questioning her statement, "You look pretty scared to me, yeah."

Part of her desperately wanted to look back up at her shishou for help, but the better part of her told knew not to, "Oh you think so? I accept you request, I will be the one _taking care of you_."

Deidara gave her a lazy smirk; he had just gotten what he had asked for. Sakura wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, she was really put into a corner on the situation. If she had denied his request he would be right in calling her a coward, but now that she had accepted the task she was stuck with him. "Tsunade-shishou, do you mind telling me as to what exactly I'm supposed to _do_ with him?"

"Yeah, _Tsunade-shishou_, and don't forget to tell her all the _precautions_ she'll have to take with me, yeah."

Sakura frowned at the mockery of her teacher but chose not to pick an argument because that was exactly what he wanted. "Let's get going then."

Tsunade motioned for her to follow, locking all the padlocks after she had shut the steel door. Sakura followed her a bit further into a small operating room. "It's sound-proof in here, not that he would be able to hear us anyways."

The Godaime looked very tired; there were light grey rings around her eyes. "I suppose you want to know how the hell we got him in here."

"That would be a good place to start."

"Well, to make a long story short, some of our ANBU troops spotted him flying close to the village and managed to take him down." She covered her mouth as she yawned, "If that's what you could call it. He didn't put up much of a fight; it was as though he _wanted_ to be caught."

"Well that's rather peculiar," Sakura brushed a stray pink strand of hair back behind her ear. "But then again maybe it's part of a much bigger plan."

"That's what we thought, and to make things even more interesting when we brought him in here he requested immediately that you take care of him, he said no one else could." Tsunade sighed, "I was shocked at his demand and of course denied it saying that you were 'unfit for the job'."

"Well that's very true, so why am I here?" she crossed her arms across her chest. Her job was healing and surgery, nothing to do with the insane. "I don't belong here."

"Let me finish, Sakura." Even her voice sounded exhausted. "That was before we had that straight jacket on him, it's made of such a material that even he can't break through it plus it blocks the flow of chakra, it's one of a kind. Back to my point, before you got here we tried having a team of doctors tend to him; give him a sedative before we bound him like that… well that didn't work out too well."

Sakura arched an eyebrow, "Go on."

"Apparently he still had some of that exploding clay in one of the mouths of his hand because he managed to blow everyone in the room, except himself, to pieces. The walls were covered in blood and body parts were scattered all over the room, it was a mess. We obviously managed to clean it all up before you got here. That's when we knew he was serious."

"Tsunade-shishou, I could have been blown up as well! How could you just trust him like that after he did such a thing?!"

The Godaime shrugged, "I knew it wasn't going to happen."

She relaxed; it was true, it didn't happen. As much as she wanted to argue, there was no use getting worked up about it now, there was nothing she could do about it. "So what am I supposed to actually _do_ with him?"

"Well he doesn't _actually_ have a mental problem," Sakura raised an eyebrow at her comment. "Okay, so he doesn't have a mental problem that we can really diagnose. Nothing like our normal patients. Anyways, you'll be giving him small doses of sedatives just as a precaution, there's always a chance that he could break out of those restraints plus he still has his legs and feet. I don't think he'll hurt you, however."

"Why wouldn't he? He has every reason to; I'm sort of his captor now."

"I know that, I just don't think he will for some reason. He _did_ let himself get captured after all and he _did_ request for you; I'm sure he has no intention of harming you. Getting back to the point, you'll also be giving him '_therapy_' which means that you'll be trying to get any information on the Akatsuki or anything else out of him."

Finally Tsunade was making some sense; there was a reason to all the madness. Her idea was a good one; she'd be much more likely to get things out of him through 'therapy' rather than in an interrogation. "Also, you're going to form some sort of bond with him."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know; he needs to trust you. Form some sort of false friendship with him or something, make it subtle though."

"Friendship?! _With that monster_?!"

"Just consider it part of the mission, Sakura. It can't hurt; you may be able to extract much more information out of him that way."

Sakura blinked furiously, how could Tsunade be so casual on the matter?! She would be locked in a room with the explosives master for hours at a time trying to get him to talk—didn't she see any danger in the idea?! Taking in a deep breath, she asked the question; "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow, bright and early. But right now you need to go home and get some rest; it's been a long day for all of us."

* * *

Tying a knot in the obi to her sleeping yukata, Sakura stepped out of the bathroom, hair dripping wet. She walked over to her bed and threw back the covers, flopping down onto the mattress. Tsunade had been right; it had been a _very_ long day.

'_Ugh what have I gotten myself into this time?'_

She rubbed her eyes a few times and pulled the covers over her head like a hood. How was she supposed to sleep after all that?

There was nothing she could do about it though, her fate had been sealed. Deidara had her in the palm of his hand, mouth and all. Already she could imagine just how the 'therapy' sessions would go, it would be him playing the mind games with her, not the other way around. _'I'm doomed.'_

Why had he requested that she 'treat' him? She still hadn't figured that one out. Maybe it was his way of reminding her of their meeting a year ago, but then again she hadn't figured that one out either. He had told her that he had organized a mission for her and Naruto just so he could say 'hello' to her. This Deidara was a real character.

Now that she would be spending time with him maybe she'd be able to extract all the answers she wanted from him. She was more focused on that then actually finding out about the Akatsuki, it had to do with her after all. _'Deidara, what do you want from me?'_

Her mind fluttered over to him as a person or rather monster. He had managed to stop her heart more than once just from her looking at him. Sure, he was incredibly handsome, she had already admitted that to herself more than once, but he was a killer, he was supposed to look hideous!

The way his hair floated above his head like that… the way he looked at her with that one visible eye… The fact that the whole thing made butterflies circle in her stomach frustrated her. Deidara was with the Akatsuki, he was a murderer, dangerous, and after her dear friend, Naruto. With that in mind she concluded with that that there was nothing attractive about him, his faults ruined it.

And the bond she was supposed to create between the two of them, how would she ever manage to do that?! There was no possible way that they could ever form any sort of relationship, real or false. The whole idea was ridiculous; sure, she was ordered to do it but she couldn't just swallow her dignity like that!

Sakura buried her face into her pillow; she was dreading the break of dawn when she would have to report to the mental ward of the hospital. Even without Deidara, she didn't want to go there, the place was creepy enough, plus it stunk. It like something out of a horror story, it surprised her that it existed in such condition. But then again she hadn't even heard about it before that afternoon so it was very well hidden from the eyes and criticism of the village's citizens.

_'__I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life…'_

* * *

Yawning, Sakura entered Tsunade's office in the part of the hospital that she was accustomed to. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night previous, too many thoughts had been going through her head, and now she was paying for it.

The Sannin frowned at her entrance, "You're going to need all the sleep you can get to take on this job."

"Yeah well it's not my fault, maybe if you had told me what I was going to be doing instead of just showing me I might have gotten more sleep," Her words were laced with sarcasm, she was in an awful grumpy mood. Bowing, "I'm sorry Tsunade-shishou, that was very rude of me."

"Believe me Sakura, you're forgiven. You have all the right to be angry with me; I just figured you wouldn't even believe me if you didn't see it for yourself firsthand." By the looks of it the Godaime hadn't gotten much sleep either although she seemed to be in a better mood than her apprentice.

Tsunade pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocked and unfolded it, "So, you ready to hear your itinerary?"

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou."

"Very well. Today, Sakura, you have to first give him a sedative that will slow his muscle movements, not his mind, so it'll be easier for you to over-power him if needed. That doesn't mean you should at any time take him lightly, however," She paused at this then continued reading, "You will be given two other syringes filled with a serum that will be able to tranquilize him if it comes down to it."

She was handed all three of the shots. The one used for sedating him was much smaller than the other two, which were filled with a thick liquid that was tinted pink. Sakura prayed that she wouldn't have to use either of them. "What next?"

"After that you're to escort him to his room, number 246," He wasn't even in his own room yet? That meant he had to have slept on the cold operating table in the room he was left in. If he wasn't with the Akatsuki Sakura might have actually pitied him. "Once you've done that you can start getting to know him."

'_Getting to know him?' _Tsunade made it sound like it was a completely normal thing to be fraternizing with the enemy in an insane asylum. Needless to say she didn't make the remark that went through her head, she had already been rude once already to her teacher and once was enough. "Anything else?"

"No, that's it for today. I don't want to put too much on your hands the first day and I also don't want to push him too much or he may never speak again. Even though he's not technically a patient he still has the potential to do so." She reached into her pocket again, this time pulling out the set of skeleton keys that she had used to open all the locks to the ward's doors. Holding them out to her student, Sakura took them from her, "You're excused, Sakura."

Her apprentice bowed before her and exited the room. Tsunade herself flopped down into her chair, "Thank God I'm not you, Sakura."

* * *

After over a half an hour of fidgeting with the keys, trying to unlock all the doors, Sakura was finally at the one where her new patient was in. She pressed her ear against the thick steel door trying to listen to see if he was up and moving or maybe even talking to himself or something. He wasn't doing either; at least she couldn't hear him doing anything. The kunoichi took in a deep breath and exhaled, and started to unlock the dead bolts and padlocks that kept the Akatsuki in and herself out.

Once finished, she reached out to grab the handle to the door in front of her when she noticed she was shaking. Immediately she pulled back, she had to calm herself down before she went inside or else he would definitely know she was frightened of him. He seemed to have the talent to see so.

'_Look Sakura, it'll be okay, he's harmless in his condition,'_ her self-reassurance didn't work very well; it wasn't the possibility of an attack that scared her. It was the fact that this man actually _intimidated_ her.

Collecting herself, Sakura once again attempted to pull open the door. She couldn't, her body didn't want to go in. She threw herself against the door and closed her eyes. The wetness of tears forming could be felt underneath her eyelids. What was the big deal? She'd faced the Akatsuki before in battle so why was it so difficult for her to _open a freaking door_?

'_That's it,'_ she stepped back and threw open the door.

"I'm hungry, yeah."

Deidara was in the same position as when she had left him only this time beside him was a plate covered in some god-awful gruel-like substance. His lips were once again curled into a smirk and he was giving her that look again, the same one she had received the previous year from him. "Then eat, you have food."

"I realize that, however you see there's a problem here; my arms are bound, yeah." She had only been in his room for about thirty seconds and already he was in charge of the situation due to his wit. _'I'm going to have to spend a _whole day_ with him like this?!'_

"Well," She mustered up the courage to walk up to him, "You expect me to feed you?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Sakura scooped up a spoonful of gruel and examined it at eye level. She frowned at the sight of it, "You really want to eat this stuff?"

He held his head out to the spoon and sniffed it, "I've had worse, yeah."

"I don't even want to know where you dine at," She looked in straight in the eyes, well the one that was visible. To her surprise he looked rather passive, she was expecting there to be waywardness in them hinting to his feeling of superiority. Now she could have the comfort of feeling in control again, "Open your mouth."

He obeyed, closing his eye as the mush was dropped into his mouth. Opening it again, he looked at her; the mischief that she had expected was now in it. That wasn't all though; when Sakura pulled the utensil out of his mouth he stuck out his tongue and licked it as if trying to get the last bits of slime off of it. "It's not as bad as it looks, yeah."

Scooping spoonful after spoonful into his mouth until he was finished, Sakura watched intently as the man before her continued to try and seduce her with the strokes of his tongue against the metal spoon. He wanted her to react to it, he was waiting for it, but she wouldn't give him that pleasure. "Done yet?"

"I suppose so, yeah." He stuck out his tongue at her, waving it in the air. "That was awful tasty, yeah."

"Oh please, you disgust me," she prayed he would buy into her words. "Now then, ready to go to your new room?"

"Only if it's as comfy as this one, yeah. This table does wonders for my back," Deidara hopped down from the operating table. He stood before her, looking down at her. Sakura looked right back up at him, her jade eyes staring into his. That was what he wanted, she was playing right into his trap and she wasn't fighting it. But then his lips curled into his usual smirk and Sakura recollected herself, "Ready to go, _Sakura-chan_?"

"After you," she held her arm out signaling him to exit through the door that she had just opened. He strutted forward, turning his head as he went to look at her.

The two of them walked passed several of the high-risk patients' cells. Some of them looked out at the two of them through the small barred window that was in the center of each of the cell doors that were used so that the doctors could check up on them. More then a few of them made cat-calls at Sakura as she walked by until Deidara silenced them, "Sorry guys, she's mine, yeah."

"I most certainly am not!"

"I know that, you know that, but they don't know that," he turned around, walking backwards, and winked at her. "Besides, you know you want to be, yeah."

"You disgust me."

"Do I _really_ Sakura-chan? I find that hard to believe, yeah."

The kunoichi frowned, sure she thought he was attractive but she definitely did not wish to be _his_. He was a murderer; she couldn't possibly ever form a _relationship_ with a _murderer_. "You keep thinking that."

Deidara chuckled to himself and turned back around, "Oh I don't have to, yeah. I already know so."

They continued on, passing more locked doors and closets filled with disinfectants and other cleaning supplies. Deidara paused, looking into the bathroom. "I have to piss, yeah."

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me, yeah."

"Well, then go. I'm not going to hold your hand."

"There's a problem there, Sakura-chan. You see, I can't exactly pull down my pants, yeah." Smirking, he turned to show her the strings that held his arms to his chest. "Now what are you going to do about that, Sakura-chan?"

She could feel beads of sweat forming on her brow, what exactly _was_ she going to do about that? "If I untie you… you promise to… just go and then let me re-tie the knots?"

"You have my word, yeah," he winked at her. It would be a huge risk, but not letting him go was inhumane. What else was she supposed to do?

Flinching, Sakura slowly let the bonds that kept him from escaping fall; by releasing him she was putting both herself and everyone else in the ward in grave danger. He grinned at her and then walked in to the bathroom, cracking his knuckles as he entered.

'_Oh God, what have I done?'_

But Deidara was true to his word, just like he said. In a few moments he returned and allowed her to re-tie his bonds, putting himself in her control once again. Her eyes narrowed as she looked up at the cloud above his head, what were his intentions behind all of this? He was supposed to be brilliant; one of Akatsuki's assets so why was he in some mental ward letting her guide him around like that? _'I have to stop thinking about this and get him to his room before he tries anything funny…'_

* * *

"So where's my room?"

Sakura stopped, she had been so focused on watching him walk along that she had forgotten to keep track as to where they were going. Looking down at her paper that Tsunade had given her she muttered the number under her breath, "It should be around here somewhere."

"You have no idea where we are, yeah."

"I've never even been down here before; I usually work in the _normal_ part of the hospital with the _normal_ patients." She started walking again, causing him to as well, "If we get lost then it's your fault, you were the one who had to suggest that I work with you."

"I only made that suggestion because I knew you'd _want to_, Sakura-chan, yeah." This time it was he who stopped, "The room's right there, I'd point to it but _my hands are tied_."

She chose not to acknowledge the pun he had just made and instead proceeded to fiddle with the ring of skeleton keys. It was hard to find the correct ones, there were just so many of them. The fact that she was having so much trouble finding the right keys to fit into the locks was making her face grow hot. _'Why the hell am I embarrassed in front of him over something like _this_?!'_

"Want me to help? I can unlock some of them with my teeth, yeah." Sakura froze as she felt him come up behind her; she could feel his breath on her neck. "Or maybe…"

Something warm, soft, and slightly wet ran across the rim of her ear, "You'd rather me unlock them with my _tongue_…"

Without thinking she flung her arm back at him, sending him crashing into the cement wall. She began to panic as she watched him slowly manage to return to his feet, what had she done?! He was going to kill her for sure! She hadn't injected him with the serum Tsunade had given her yet, he was still incredibly dangerous!

He shook his head, the yellow cloud above him seemed to float back and forth, and looked up at her with that same smirk on his face. "You're a _feisty_ one, Sakura-chan, yeah."

Inwardly and outwardly she relaxed, she wasn't going to die after all. "Let's just get you into your new room."

She pulled the door open to it and stepped inside, followed by him. It had the same white cement-block walls as the hallway and the same tiled flooring. In the corner was an old, poorly put together wooden bed, its mattress would definitely not pass inspection from the Princess in the tale of her and the pea. Coiled springs stuck out in a few places and the pillow looked as though it was stuffed with corn husks. The room was lit by the same lights as in the hallway, flickering as well. "Looks homey, yeah."

Sakura walked towards the bed and sat down on it, avoiding the exposed wires. "Sit."

The explosives master followed suit, sitting down on the opposite side of the mattress with her, crossing his legs and grinning. "So doctor, what are we going to do today?"

"First, before I forget, I'm going to give you this sedative." Reaching into the pocket in her skirt she pulled out the smaller syringe of the three. She allowed some of the liquid to squirt out of it, smiling to herself that she was now in power. "Now, I'm going to have to roll up your pant leg to give this to you, don't you even _think_ about kicking me in the face or anything."

"But I hate needles, yeah. They _scare_ me." His smirk told her otherwise, she was beginning to grow tired of his toying. Hesitating, she reached a hand out to his leg that he had just outstretched to her and pulled up his pant leg. Her eyes trailed up to his, she wanted to make sure he wasn't going to pull anything. "Hurry up and get it over with, yeah."

Now was the part she was dreading the most, she would actually have to _touch_ him. He must have caught on to her though, she had paused too long, "I won't bite, yeah."

"I'm just looking for a vein," she lied, quickly sticking her hand out and poking one of his more visible veins on the back of his leg behind his kneecap. "This will do."

He flinched as she jabbed him with the needle, exactly what she had hoped his reaction would be, "What the hell, yeah?! Didn't you ever learn how to properly use one of those things?!"

Now it was her turn to smirk, "Of course I did."

"Well Sakura-chan, you should start treating me better. We're going to be spending _a lot_ of time together, yeah."

Her smirk turned into a frown, "I'm aware of that. Now then, let's begin our first therapy session."

"Okay, yeah." Deidara crossed his legs again and gave her an examining look, "How do you feel today, Sakura-chan?"

"Very funny, Deidara."

"No, really. How do you feel today, Sakura-chan?"

"I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" she rolled her eyes. It was probably a good idea to play into his little joke, it would put him in control of the situation and for the first time Sakura decided that it was a good thing. Tsunade had said she needed to gain his trust and form a bond and that was exactly what she was going to do. "Well, I could be better but who's going to complain, yeah?"

"So what would you like to talk about today?"

"Well, how about we talk about _you_, Sakura-chan. We could start off by talking about how you're not a trained psychiatrist, yeah." He stuck out his tongue at her again with that same look in his eye that was driving Sakura insane. If she didn't know better she would have thought that it should have been her in the straight jacket. "Look, you were the one who decided that I'm the only one that's allowed to treat you so you're stuck with me."

She had caught him on that one; the expression on his face confirmed it. "I suppose so, yeah."

"Why _did_ you request for me to treat you? In fact, why are you even _in here_?" Those were the two questions she had been dying to ask for quite sometime, maybe she'd actually get an answer out of him.

"I'm going to let your imagination figure out that first one, yeah." He cocked his head to the side again, examining her through his bright blue eye. The strand of hair that covered the other fell over his nose. "But as for the second one, I just felt like being captured, yeah."

"You just _felt_ like being captured?" Now that was something that she was sure was a complete lie. No man in their right mind would _want_ to be captured, but then again he _was_ sitting in a mental asylum in a straight jacket. "I find that hard to believe."

"Believe what you want, yeah." He attempted to shrug but the jacket prevented it. "If you must know I knew exactly what they were going to do with me, and I knew that it'd be _you_ who treating me, yeah."

So that meant he had had it all planned out from the get-go? It was just like the year previous when Sakura and Naruto had been assigned that mission. He was still in control of the entire situation, even in his condition. "So you're not going to explain anything? What about a year ago, are you going to tell me as to why you organized that mission just so you could say 'hello' to me?"

"Nope, yeah. You've gotta figure that one out too for yourself."

"Okay, well what do you want to talk about today?"

"I already told you, I want to talk about you, Sakura-chan, yeah."

Sakura frowned, "What exactly do you want to know?"

"Everything, yeah." He gave her a lopsided smile. "Let's start with your friend, the Uchiha boy. How's that going, yeah?"

How did he know that she had a crush on Sasuke? _'He probably knows more about me than I do…'_

"It could be better, I'm sure you already know that though, don't you?"

"Of course, yeah."

"Anything else?"

He lowered his voice, leaning towards her, "I bet you want to know about the Akatsuki, don't you, yeah?"

She froze for a moment, would he really tell her about them? He must have known from the start that finding out information on them was Konoha's intention. "Yes, so what can you tell me about them?"

"I don't know, yeah." He smirked again, throwing his head back. "Maybe I'll tell you when you figure out why you're here, yeah."

Well, she couldn't have really expected a true answer from him. He wasn't stupid enough to betray his organization; they'd find out for sure and do away with him. "I guess we're done for the day then."

Sakura, rather flustered, stood up and pulled some of the crinkles out of her medical skirt. As she began to exit the room she looked back at him, "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow then."

"Bring me some real food, yeah."

And with that she walked out and closed the door behind her, making sure to lock each and every deadbolt and padlock.

* * *

Sakura flopped down into her chair behind her desk in her room and pulled out one of the drawers to it. She fingered through some of the tabs until she found what she was looking for. The folder wasn't overfilled with papers like the other ones she had, when she opened it up there was only one piece inside, Deidara's information that had been pulled out of the Bingo Books. Reaching over and grabbing a separate sheet of paper she began writing.

_Day One:_

_Fed and escorted patient to new room, sedated once arrived._

_Patient sat down on bed and began questioning me, mentioned the Akatsuki but did not give any information out._

_End Day One._

**A/N: There. I hope that all made sense... it's really late at night and I seem to have caught a cold so I'm kinda out of it.**

**So yes, I actually managed to make some sort of a plot line out of this tale; Sakura has to extract information about the Akatsuki from him. Huzzah. Sounds rather boring, dontcha think? I'll make it interesting though. Promise.**


End file.
